


The Cat With Two Tails

by LANDxSKY



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cat, Gen, One Shot, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 04:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17974913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LANDxSKY/pseuds/LANDxSKY





	The Cat With Two Tails

**The Cat With Two Tails**

By H. Williams

  
  
  


It all began on a very rainy night. The Texan heat had dissipated and replaced itself with cool air and heavy rainfall. The thunder in the distance was enough to keep Lyssa awake, all the way through to three am.   
Lyssa lived alone in an apartment complex, she had done ever since she started college. Not much of a people person, it was more comfortable that way. She’d much rather have her books, filled with whimsy and adventure, than a roommate who forgot to wash the dishes for the fourth night in a row. 

She was a small girl with wavy, shoulder-length, blackish-brown hair that too far too long in the morning to untangle, and chocolate brown eyes that her few friends would always compliment but she herself found to be quite boring. As with most nights like these she was curled up on her sofa, wrapped up in her fluffiest blue blanket, wearing a t-shirt that was several sizes too large, and sipping away at a cup of Earl Grey tea, all the while listening to an audio-book about some English fellow visiting a restaurant on the other side of the universe. Her blissful state was rather rudely interrupted however, when she caught something moving on the other side of the room. It was small, black, and four-legged. 

_ A cat? _ She thought to herself,  _ How on  _ **_earth_ ** _ did a cat get in here? _

The how’s and why’s were of no importance as, whatever the reason may be, there it was indeed. A strange breed, she observed. It had eyes that reminded her of Peacock Ore and, if she weren’t mistaken,  **two** tails! It leapt up onto the coffee table in front of her and stared silently at the bewildered girl. She paused her audiobook and sat upright. 

“Woof.” It barked softly, both startling and causing even more confusion for the girl. 

“Um, cats don’t bark.” She spoke aloud, as if the feline could understand the words of humans. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first peculiarity to come from it. The cat tilted its head and stared a little longer before crouching down and began to wiggle its backside, right up until the point it leapt up and head butted poor Lyssa right in the centre of her forehead. She fell back, pressing a hand to the point of impact, her cup of tea falling to the floor and spilling everywhere. Luckily, the cup itself remained intact.

“Ow! You little shit!” She cursed under her breath. 

“You’re one to talk. You’re barely five-three.”

“My height has nothing to do with—“ She paused. That most definitely startled the girl. The silence remained a little while longer as she simply stared at the cat, “Did... Did you just speak?”

“I did.”

“Cats do not speak, nor do they bark. I must be dreaming… That’s it. I’ve fallen asleep and I am having some bizarre dream.”

“If this is a dream, then your world is very dull.” It retorted. 

“Rude.”

“Honest. Besides, this isn’t a dream. You’re awake and I’m here. It’s very wet and windy outside, so I came in to avoid getting caught up on it.”

“I suppose I can’t argue with that. But...  **Why** did you attack me?!”

“I didn’t. I made a link so we can understand each other.”

“By head butting me.”

“By head butting you.”

Lyssa groaned, she couldn’t even argue with it. In a world where two-tailed, talking cats existed, why  **wouldn’t** this be completely plausible?

“And how long will you be staying here?”

“Until the weather becomes better. I have a tree to take home.”

“A tree?”

“Yes.”

“You have a tree. And you’re taking it home.”

“I’m not sure where the confusion is.”

“How are you going to carry it?”

“I’ll just make myself bigger and carry it over my shoulder.”

By this point, she could feel the makings of a grand migraine beginning to set in. She stood up, turning to make her way to the kitchen, only to stumble over the cup she’d dropped and wound up with two very wet socks.

“Damn it…” This was not how she had expected her night to go. Nowhere close. She crouched down, picking the cup up and removing her soggy socks, then continued on her way. The cat followed after her, hooping up onto the counter top. 

“Got anything to eat?”

“Sorry, I don’t really keep cans of cat food around.”

“Well, what  **do** you have?”

Lyssa thought to herself for a moment,  _ what would it be able to eat? _

“I have chips?”

“What are chips?”

She turned towards a cupboard next to the oven, opening it to retrieve a large bag of Tortilla Chips. She pulled one out and placed it in front of the cat. The creature sniffed at it and licked the offering. 

“No. Something else. Something  **sweet** .”

“For an intruder, you’re very demanding.”

Back to the cupboard she went, searching for a few moments before pulling out an unopened jar of Nutella. She looked at it apologetically,  _ Sorry. I guess I’ll be sharing you.  _

Returning to the countertop she pulled open a draw and grabbed a tablespoon. The lid was removed, seal torn off, and she dug into it with the utensil, placing it down next to the refused chip. The cat sniffed again before taking another lick. 

“Much better.” It said in a pleased tone before returning to the approved snack. Lyssa watched it silently, finally spotting the small crimson-coloured scarf around its neck. She’d been unable to see it in the dim light of her living room. 

“So, you’re a cat that steals trees and can get bigger?”

“I never claimed to be a cat.” It responded, displeased with the interruption. 

“You sure do look like one. A weird one, but a cat nonetheless.”

“I can be anything I want. This is just an appealing form.”

“Well, then. A shapeshifting, tree stealing, sweet-treat loving being that likes to pretend it’s a kitty. Why not.”

Upon finishing the spoonful of chocolate spread, the cat sat upright and returned its attention to Lyssa. 

“For someone who says all these things are not normal, you’re remarkably calm.”

“Well... Whether I freak out or not it won’t change the situation, will it?”

“Good point.”

Lyssa shrugged and made her way back to her sofa, snuggling back up again. The feline followed and sat atop the coffee table once more. 

“Is this all you do?”

“Is what?”

“This.” It raised a paw, gesturing to her current comfortable position. 

“No. It’s just three in the morning, rainy, and there’s nothing to do.”

“Then what do you do the rest of the time?”

“Work, mainly.”

“What’s that?”

Lyssa groaned just thinking about it, “I wait tables at a restaurant. Take people’s orders, bring them food, get severely underpaid. That sort of thing.”

“Do you enjoy it?”

“Not at all, but it pays the bills.”

“This doesn’t sound very enjoyable at all.” The cat shook its head and hopped down, running along the beige carpet to reach the nearest windowsill. 

“The rain has stopped. I’ll be off now.”

“Wait!” Lyssa sat back up, “You’re going to go get your tree, right?”

The cat nodded. 

“Can I come? I want to see this whole, getting bigger and taking it home.”

“I don’t mind.” It hopped down and made its way to the front door, “Come on then.”

She got up off of her seat and followed to the door, slipping a pair of purple low-top Converse onto her feet and pulled the door open. They both ventured outside and she closed the door behind them. 

 

The ground was wet, and every step she made resounded with a squishy  **schlick** ing noise as she followed after her new associate. It was cool, and the thick humidity in the air was sure to destroy any form of maintenance she’d managed to bestow upon her hair. This, however, was the reason God created hair ties. Lyssa slipped one off of her right wrist, where any long-haired pro knows it’s best to keep several ‘just incase’, and tied her hair back into a bun. 

_ There, much better.  _ She mused to herself, eyes never veering away from the two-tailed feline. It must have been nearing five in the morning now, the sky was in a state of civil dawning and the street they were venturing down was lit only by scattered street lamps that likely needed most of their bulbs replacing a long time ago. Soon enough, they were there. A large, red oak tree stood in the middle of the pavement. It definitely should’ve been somewhere more suiting, such as a park or a field. How on earth had it gotten there? The cat stopped at the tree, staring up at it. 

“There we are, right where I left it.”

“You know, a tree this size…” Lyssa commented, “you’d have been quite dry staying in it.”

“Yes, but if you had the choice would you stay in a tree or in a house?”

“Fair point. Well, then. I’ll let you do.. whatever it is you are going to do.”

The cat leaped into the air, and if Lyssa had so much as blinked she’d of missed it. It was as though the feline form had become like water, swiftly flowing and spreading until cat no longer. Once it landed, it was now in the form of a girl with pointed ears, bat-like wings, and a long, thin tail with a pointed end. She was a few inches shorter than Lyssa, with thick, brown hair tied up into pigtails. The only things that remained of her previous form were those vibrant, peacock-ore coloured eyes, and the small crimson scarf which had now grown several feet in length. Lyssa simply stared in amazement, speechless. It was remarkable that of everything tonight, this was the part that shook her. 

The cat-turned-girl stared at the tree once more, and then placed a hand delicately onto its trunk. Before her eyes, the tree began to shrink. It’s form compressed more and more until it was no bigger than a baseball bat. It was this point that Lyssa regained her voice. 

“H-how did you do that?!”

The girl turned to Lyssa, holding the tree over her shoulder, and canted her head to the side, “I wanted it to be, so it was.”

“That… That isn’t how it works.”

“Maybe not for you.”

Lyssa frowned, “Not for anyone.”

“You also claimed cats couldn’t bark, or speak. Why is this the thing that’s an issue?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I’ll be on my way then.”

“Wait! Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Yes, but where’s home?”

“Another place.” She turned to the side, then paused for a moment, “Want to come?”

“Come with you?” Lyssa’s brow furrowed in thought, trying to decide on how to answer, “I don’t even know your name.”

“Marielle. Do you want to come with me?”

It had been one hell of a start to the day and, while she’d not have openly admitted it, to be honest the day to day had become overtly dull. Even her favourite past times had started to lose their charm. 

“Sure, why not?”

“Come along then.” Marielle reached out, wrapping her hand around the air as though grabbing a large, invisible doorknob. She twisted left, and then twisted right. The space in front of her began to blur and take the form of a wooden door. She pulled it open to reveal a hallway. It was fuzzy and a pinkish-purple in colour. Lyssa, filled with more and more surprise and amazement with each passing moment. Maybe this was it, the time to experience something new and wonderful. She took a deep breath, bracing herself as she took the first step forward. Marielle waited for her to enter through the doorway, and followed shortly after. The door closed behind them and faded out of existence. All that remained to show anything had even been there was a large, round, dry patch where the giant oak tree once existed.


End file.
